I'm $697.83 richer thanks to pfblogs.org

Sat down this week to crunch some numbers I've been meaning to tabulate for a little while now.

Considering my relatively young age, I've had my toe dipped in the water of the investing pool for some time already, although I'd say I only truly got serious about investing in the last two years or so, once I finished school and got a real job with real money.

The biggest thing that inspired me to turn my investing style on its head and really start doing some homework before jumping into or out of a stock was the inspirational, educational and helpful stories I found out there on something called the pfblogosphere -- most of whom I'm pleased to say I stumbled across while sifting through pfblogs.org. Some of my favourites are linked on my sidebar to the right, but I really do find great new pfblogs on an almost daily basis -- far too many to list here.

Anyway, if it weren't for the lessons I learned through pfblogs, I would never have learned the magical power of value investing -- and perhaps more importantly, of the sheer majesty of dividends. The aforementioned number I crunched is my annual dividend and distribution income-- currently up to an impressive $697.83 per year.

I know it's not much to some people, but considering where I started from, that's an absolutely astounding number to me. Six hundred bucks is a lot of money. It's a sum that's even more amazing to me considering it's passive money. It just flows into my account, sometimes reinvested into more shares, but sometimes not, without me having to lift a finger or open an analyst report. And that doesn't even include the capital gains I've made this year.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, thanks.

I'm still early on my journey. But $697.83 is a nice reminder to me of why it pays to keep on my current path.